May Multifamily Rents Fall As Federal Policies Ripple Through Housing Market

Springtime is usually the busy season for multifamily leasing, but that doesn’t mean asking rents in the U.S. posted big gains last month.

Realtor.com found that May asking rents for units with two or fewer bedrooms fell year-over-year by 1.7%, or $29, in the 50 largest U.S. metro areas. This was the 22nd straight month of decline for that metric.

Median asking rent for the 50 largest metros came in at $1,705. That’s up $5 from last month and nearly 20% from May 2019, though it's down $54 from its six-year peak in August 2022.

Realtor.com's analysis pinned sluggish rent growth in several metros on the Trump administration's restrictive policies for international students. That put a damper on numbers in Seattle and Boston, which saw year-over-year rents drop 2.3% and 0.4%, respectively.

Rents are also down in Memphis, Tennessee, Cleveland and Oklahoma City, which had drops of 3.3%, 1.9% and 1% over the same period. Those were among the markets with the highest rates of multifamily construction permits issued last year, alongside Milwaukee and Columbus, Ohio.

Realtor.com analysts said the Trump administration’s 50% tariff on steel and aluminum imports from most countries will lead to rent growth in those same markets as developers slow construction timelines and pass new expenses on to tenants.

But all of those declines pale in comparison to greater Denver, where rents fell 7.5% year-over-year.

Realtor.com also compiled a list of markets where rent growth is surpassing inflation. There are some predictable entries, like greater New York City and several Florida markets, including Miami, Tampa and Jacksonville.

Two Midwestern cities also made it onto the list. Pittsburgh leads the nation in metric with 43.2% rent growth over the past six years. Indianapolis came in at No. 5 with 32.1% rent growth over the same period.

A separate Zillow analysis also found weaker-than-average rent growth amid a cooling for-sale market.